As ironic as it sounds, I am using social media right now to rant about social media.
Well, to be exact, people's obsession with social media that it makes them into selfish, inconsiderate social morons.
How often do you see people typing away on Facebook or Twitter or Whatsapp that they become totally oblivious of more important things such as watching the traffic for their lives, or being socially considerate and not snailing away in the middle of walking pavements, or fostering relationships by engaging in REAL conversations with REAL people?
I see that everyday.
On the buses and trains.
In the shopping malls.
During meetings.
And sometimes even in the movie theatres!
Though I really hate it, I've tried silently accepting it because it is not the first sign of urban decay that the harsh reality has presented before me. On the contrary, it's just one of the minions of urban decay.
However, this reality has crawled its way onto a colleague of mine today, of whom I consider as a friend, and I wish I could gun that creepy slimey reality down.
Being a new member in a team is never easy - the process of introduction, adaption and eventually gelling can be as painful as a root canal without the benefit of laughing gas.
However, I was lucky to have found my first 'clique' when I joined. It came in a pleasant package named S.
S and I started lunching together and taking the transport home together and though there is a good gap of 6 years between us, I was really happy to have found a colleague I could call a friend.
Friendship is like an invisible contract, signed by your emotions rather than your hands. Itbears returns which is non-monetary, yet gratifying. However, the dangers of considering someone a friend is that sometimes you tend to take on responsibilities of your own accord.
With more new colleagues joining the team, the lunch group got bigger, the conversation topic becomes more diverse and the attention given to each member of the clique diminishes. However, we still enjoy one another's company...well, except for S.
Unfortunately, this is also when the frequency of S's constant tapping away on his phone during lunch hour increases.
When I first noticed it, I tried kicking it to the furthest back alley of my mind and covering it with the cobwebs accumulated at the empty space in my brain, which was caused by a brain damage incurred from an automobile accident years back.
As time went by, I found myself having to constantly suppress my outspokenness just so that I would not call a spade a spade and give S a piece of my mind.
Though I did jokingly bring it up at times, he still refused to take the hint and put his phone away.
It then came to a point when a few others in the lunch group started to privately comment on that to me.
Today, it happened again. A member of the group was commenting cautiously in Chinese, which S does not understand, that he had never taken his eyes off his phone, nor spoken a word, ever since he sat down and ate.
Once again, I joked about that a couple of times, with STRONG hints for him to put away the phone, each hint getting stronger than the other. He decided to be a stubborn arse and refused to budge. In fact, he didn't even respond to the comments.
It then hit me that hinting was probably not enough. I had enough of suppressing myself and turning a blind eye to his behaviour which is not only extremely rude, but also a social stigma to me.
I whatsapp him to request for him to stop looking at his phone when he is lunching with us, and that he has been doing it for MONTHS now, which is not nice at all.
He ignored my messages to my utter dismay.
When we got back to our desks, I messaged him on our office communication platform and he ignored me once again.
When I finally got fedup and said 'whatever' and exited the conversation, he finally responded.
'I don't know how to answer those questions. Sorry.' was all he said.
I decided to give it one last try and tried telling him as nicely as possible that what he did is rather rude and that perhaps it's time for him to start paying attention to the group and engaging in our conversations. Afterall, that is the point of having a lunch group, isn't it? To communicate at ease with each other during that hour of reduced stress level, and to foster stronger bonds within the team.
He replied with a 'I'm okay. No worries'.
He's okay? Of course he's okay!
But We, or at least, I am not okay!
I decided to finally give up and ended the conversation with 'well, actually why would I want to bother myself with all these. Have fun. Cheers'.
After sending that message, I actually felt like going up to him and slapping the senses into him.
Sure, he is younger. But shouldn't a 27-year-old be matured enough for sensitivity and sensibility?
Well, have fun in your virtual world, S.
Perhaps the day will come when you can eat virtual food with your virtual friends in your virtual world, where you can have your virtual conversations with them.
Me? I'd rather remain on Planet Earth.
